tnt

Is Hakstol living in Grand Forks? Heard nothing but rumor and speculation that he wouldn’t mind another crack at it. Might be wishful thinking passed on as a possibility. Yeah, it wouldn’t be a long term thing, but I think it would be good to at least move our culture back in the right direction. Yes, purely speculation and rumor, but this is a message board. Regardless, could use an heir apparent that would bring that culture. Lot of young talented coaches out there as well. Will take a lot to turn around this season, and things could really go south if the leadership in the locker room can’t hold things together. At least we haven’t seen the likes of that during Berry’s tenure, but let’s face it, UND aspires to much more than being average and an afterthought on the National scene.

How many times can Berry use the phrase “need to play a full 60” before it falls on him? When he says we’ve been playing some good hockey, I don’t know what he is looking at. I remember when UND would consistently hold teams to 20 shots or less, not 40. Say what you want about Jake Brandt, he wasn’t afraid to call out bad play. Scanlan doesn’t seem to want to call out anyone.

Let’s just say culture matters. Western has it, we don’t. Western lost the majority of their top scorers, but Western still plays to their identity. What is our identity? Don’t see anyone going hard to the net or being hard to play against. The sign of a good coach is doing more with less, instead of vice versa, which seems to be the case for us.

So in a game you needed in the worst way, you have a 1-0 lead and know that the next goal could go a long way in determining the game, and Western comes out in the second with the intensity. Kind of reminds me of our loss to Michigan in the tournament last year. I know games ebb and flow all the time, but when you come out of crucial intermissions and are totally overwhelmed, that is a problem with your intensity, especially when you are getting closer to desperation mode.

Exactly, by leading by example by still giving everything in practice despite not seeing the ice all the time. Frankly, if it is basically a wash between him and a young guy, I would rather the young guy get time, so if this year doesn’t turn around we at least have a bit more experience going forward with potentially a bigger upside.

Yes, and the biggest problem for this inconsistent team is it doesn’t give them any room for error the second half, especially against those teams behind them in the pairwise. I do not want to hear Berry touting at the end of the season that if we could have got in the tournament we were playing well like they said a few years ago when St. Cloud ended their season in overtime at the Frozen Faceoff.

Yes, those games are killers, but even if they won them, they would still need to play well down the stretch. There are probably top 10 teams in the pairwise right now that will be watching the tournament on tv, because you can move up or down quite a bit from weekend to weekend, much less with all league games from here on out.

But I thought Grand Forks boys were such great players.

I do think Berry needs to hold some guys like McLaughlin accountable for all the back pass turnovers or blue line dangling he continues to make game after game. Perron has the same issues. If we have to cheat that much to try and get offense, it wouldn’t bode well for us, even if we did get to a one and done tournament. Need to turn that around soon.

Exactly! Even if you think it was iffy, you don’t give a ref a chance to even it up. Refs don’t like to decide the game, so Kunz made it easy for them.

It’s like the hockey team is trying to outdo the women’s basketball team for a mythical turnover crown! How many times did they back pass giving Western outnumbered situations going the other way.

Was very impressed with his game last night in the prospects game. Seems like he will be a nice penalty killer. Would take it if he could develop into an Austin Poganski type player for us. Really thought all our guys in that game played pretty well. After watching Benak as well, someone will be getting a really nice player.

Western hasn't exactly done anything in the National Tournament either, so why is that "winning" so much better, considering they haven't won league titles either.

Would be nice to make it 5 and add Benak to the list.

If there was division, wouldn't they be at a totally different bar?

So, then once again, name the source.

So by your definition, every team that Hakstol had at UND had a divided locker room.

Source?

Just out of curiosity, do people think Matt Greene should have been Captain for UND and alternate captain for the L.A. Kings? I would argue he had many more questionable penalties, nevermind an off ice issue.

If he had an NHL contract he wouldn’t be eligible for college hockey.

Completely mind warped on them. Persson's been around so long that it didn't register, but should have remembered Hellsten because of the hype about his background and the fact that he wasn't playing over here first.

A lot of foreign flavor to that list. Wonder how many are looking to go the college route. When was the last foreign player UND had? We had the likes of Janatuinen, Hoff and Tomek, who didn’t make huge splashes, but we need to be a bigger player for some of the elite guys with BC, BU & Michigan having a pipeline to the NDTP. It is an international game, and we need to take advantage and get guys like Mietinnen, Borgstrom, Heinen, etc. Could use another Spirko ourselves.

Wow, after your ludicrous prediction earlier this year, I would cut your losses. You obviously haven't a clue.

Let's hope they are focused on making this a productive start to the second half of the season rather than a vacation from the cold. No distractions.

If Berry were to go 0-3 against Arizona State, a team that still has their club coach, that would almost seal the need to win the conference title to get to the regional.